


the one i want to hold on to

by postingpebbles



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Family, Fluff, Gen, Kisses, M/M, and confetti, lots and lots of love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-01
Updated: 2018-04-01
Packaged: 2019-04-16 18:26:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14170884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/postingpebbles/pseuds/postingpebbles
Summary: For the first time in five years, Katsuki Yuuri celebrates his birthday surrounded by the language, the home, and the man he loves.He's so happy.





	the one i want to hold on to

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MaryKaoru](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaryKaoru/gifts).



> for mary, one of the winners of my giveaway fics! a yuuri birthday was requested, so have a filler fic set between eps 9 & 10 :)

It’s strange to be home.

After celebrating his nineteenth through his twenty-third birthdays away from his family, it’s almost surreal to be standing in the inn’s entranceway on his twenty-fourth. Yuuri’s almost forgotten what it felt like.

“What’s this?” he manages. “Is this for me?”

Victor drapes an arm across Yuuri’s shoulders, blue eyes sparkling as he brushes off the stray confetti from the party poppers. He attaches a party hat to Yuuri’s head. “It was hard keeping it a secret from you, but it worked, right?”

And Yuuri nods, unable to speak any longer. He takes in _everything,_ from his parents’ smiling faces, to the little party hat looped around Makkachin’s fluffy head, to the blue balloons covering every surface he can see. Yuuko beams at him as she leans her head on Nishigori’s shoulder, and the triplets puff up with pride when they pull the strings on another set of party poppers.

“Axel, Lutz, Loop, you three look very pretty,” Victor says, complimenting their outfits. The triplets dressed up for the occasion, wearing dresses in their colors, and they giggle as Makkachin starts to roll in the fallen confetti.

“Come, Yuuri,” Minako says, stepping forward and taking him by the arm. There’s a hint of pride in her expression when their gazes meet, and Yuuri quickly slips off his shoes and drops his bag in the genkan as she drags him deeper into the inn. “We’ve got a lot more prepared for you in the dining room. Victor planned _everything_ out for tonight.”

Yuuri glances over his shoulder at Victor as Minako drags him away, but Victor only offers him a bright heart-shaped smile as he picks up Yuuri’s fallen bag.

 _Ah, I love him,_ pops unbidden into Yuuri’s head, and he laughs to himself when he realizes.

Inside the dining room, Minako sits him down in front of a small bowl of katsudon with a look of satisfaction. Yuuri panics a little as he looks at the breaded pork, egg, and rice, then back at Minako and everyone around him. “Are you sure?” he tries, but Victor, now present and sans skate bag, pushes it back to him.

“It’s a special occasion,” he says firmly, his lips quirking upward. “But if you can’t accept that reason, then it’s a belated reward for qualifying in the Grand Prix.”

“Even if I didn’t really _win_ the Rostelecom Cup?”

Yuuri’s chopsticks rest hesitantly over the surface of the bowl, but Minako claps him on the back. “You’ve earned it, Yuuri,” she says, and Victor nods.

“You’ll have one again once you win gold at the Grand Prix Final,” he promises. “Isn’t that what you told me at Onsen on Ice? That you’ll keep winning and eating katsudon with me?”

Yuuri’s laugh is more of a quiet huff as Makkachin noses curiously at his side. “Yeah.”

He doesn’t tell Victor about his plans about retiring after the Final. He doesn’t tell Victor about how much losing him would destroy him. He doesn’t cry. Instead, Yuuri keeps that tucked close to his heart in the midst of the joy surrounding them. There’s no point in thinking about that when Victor’s by his side—on a day that’s supposed to be a happy one.

So he digs into the katsudon, tastebuds singing as he eats. He doesn’t think about the amount of exercise he’s going to have to do tomorrow to work all of this off; he just holds onto the feeling of _this_ moment and the feeling of Victor’s warm smile _._

“Time for cake!” Yuuri’s mother sings, sweeping into the dining room as soon as the last piece of pork and rice pass his lips. Her hands are steady as she places the plate down on the table, trained by _decades_ of serving food to guests.

“Okaa-san,” he says helplessly, but a small grin finds its way on his face when he sees the blue roses interspersed throughout and the _Happy Birthday Yuuri!_ written in familiar, elegant script. He turns to Victor, who smiles guiltily. “Did you make this?” Yuuri asks, surprised.

“Only the icing,” he admits. “Mari did the rest.”

“It was still Vicchan’s idea,” she drawls, grinning when Yuuri looks at her. “I only made sure that he could do it without burning the kitchen down.”

“Mari!” Victor whines, then someone flicks the light switch, plunging the room into darkness except for the single candle flickering in the middle of the softly-spun sugar. Everyone comes closer and crowds around the table, their faces illuminated by the warm glow of the tiny flame. Victor’s body presses against his side, warm and reassuring, and the thoughts from earlier melt away. Yuuri doesn’t think he’s ever felt safer than he has in this moment surrounded by all the people he loves.

“Make a wish,” Victor encourages, the sharp angles of his face softened by the candlelight, and Yuuri looks at him in the shadows. His lips part, love spilling from every part of his being.

 _I wish that Victor and I will never be apart,_ he thinks to himself, watching the flame dance on the candlewick. _That he’ll stay by my side and never leave._

So when he blows out the candle, the strength of the wish consuming his whole heart, Yuuri turns to Victor and kisses him as the glow fades from the room. Victor makes a sound of surprise when their lips meet, hands reaching out to grip Yuuri’s waist, but then Yuuri pulls away and winks once the lights turn back on.

 _“Yuuri, tanjoubi omedetou!”_ everyone cheers, more party poppers materializing into existence. They begin to sing—even _Victor,_ with his endearing Kyushu accent—and Yuuri can’t help but think fervently about how there aren’t any guests booked tonight. They’d surely get noise complaints this way.

But Victor still looks dazed as he sings, a blush riding high on his cheekbones, and Yuuri laughs. It’s rare to catch someone as composed as Victor off-guard, so Yuuri saves this image to memory.

“Picture, picture!” Yuuri’s father cries, wielding a camera, and suddenly everyone’s on their side of the table in front of the cake. Mari relights the candle, Minako plants herself on his other side, Makkachin’s swiftly deposited in his lap, and Yuuri’s smile blossoms.

The flash goes off once, twice, and then the triplets break out of formation and rush to the tripod (with Yuuri’s father on their heels) to see how the pictures turned out. Their dresses flounce as they hop around, and Yuuri’s distinctly reminded of how he was as a child, thrilled with the idea of making silly faces at the camera.

“Let me see! Let me see!”

“I wanna look!”

“Can we take another picture with our phones?”

They jabber excitedly and jump up and down as his father shows them the pictures, and then they race back to the table and grin broadly.

“We have to get a picture of Yuuri and Victor together for Instagram,” Axel proclaims as Lutz and Loop add, “For the fans!”

“Okay, okay,” Victor laughs, looping his arm around Yuuri’s waist. The color has faded slightly from his cheeks, and a sudden idea to return that blush pops into Yuuri’s head. “Tell us when.”

Yuuri smiles again when prompted, but once the triplets have put their cameras away, he leans in and kisses Victor again. For once, he’s not even embarrassed—there’s nothing to _be_ embarrassed about once they’ve kissed on international television. Doing so in front of his family is no big deal.

He hears cries of “No fair!” and “I wanted to get a picture of Victor and Yuuri kissing!” from the girls, but he smiles into the kiss as Victor kisses back.

“You certainly _are_ full of surprises,” Victor gasps, the blush returning tenfold to his cheeks as Nishigori and Minako whoop and Mari calls for them to _get a room, sheesh_.

Yuuri’s sure he’s not any better, with the way his cheeks feel right now. There’s a giddy smile on his face (most definitely matching the one on Victor’s), and laughter begins to bubble from his throat, light and airy like champagne.

As he takes in the scene around him—Mari and Minako cracking open the sake bottles, his mother giggling as his father swipes a bottle of his own, the Nishigoris taking selfies, and Victor looking at him like he’s his entire _world_ —Yuuri’s heart is full to bursting with joy. There’s no place he’d rather be than in this moment.

“How are you feeling?” Victor asks him, warmth infused in every word.

“Happy,” he says truthfully, though happiness doesn’t seem to _cover_ what he’s feeling—there’s something more, something _deeper_ that fills his soul. “Thank you, Victor. For everything.”

Victor's gaze is tender. “Of course. You of all people deserve to know how much you’re loved.”

And those words strike Yuuri deeper than anything else. Anxiety is a funny thing—there are times when it cripples Yuuri so much that he crashes after every single jump, and times when it melts away and allows him to soar. It chokes him sometimes, preventing any words from leaving his throat, and sometimes it’s cast away by passionate verses proclaiming his devotion to one man.

Sometimes it whispers how he could _never_ be loved, but sometimes, like in moments like these, it’s ripped to shreds by the strength of the love he _knows_ is around him. It’s taken him a while, but he’s thankful everyday that he realizes this now.

Then Yuuri’s gaze trails down to the cake in front of them, still untouched except for the little blue candle in the center.

“Share a slice with me?” he asks, reaching for a plate. “I can’t eat an entire one by myself.”

Victor smiles, the skin around his eyes crinkling. “I'd love to.”

 

* * *

   

> **katsuki_y** **  
> ** _Home_
> 
> [image description: The dining area of Yu-topia Katsuki. Yuuri is in the middle of the picture, a small cake with a lighted candle set in front of him, with the biggest smile on his face. A blue party hat with gold polka dots is attached to his head, and Makkachin pokes her head over the table curiously. Victor, though, isn’t even looking at the camera. He’s looking at Yuuri with a tender smile, and though the camera wasn’t able to capture this, their hands are intertwined between them.]
> 
> **katsuki_y** love.

**Author's Note:**

> :')
> 
> [tumblr](https://postingpebbles.tumblr.com) // [twitter](https://twitter.com/postingpebbles)


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